Space and astronomy news
The eerie, hellish glow coming from the Moon may seem unreal in this image, since it’s invisible to our eyes. But instruments that detect gamma rays tell us it’s real. More than just a grainy, red picture, it’s a vivid reminder that there’s more going on than meets human eyes.
It’s also a reminder that any humans that visit the Moon need to be protected from this high-energy radiation.
Continue reading “When it Comes to Gamma Radiation, the Moon is Actually Brighter Than the Sun”
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta mission spent two years at the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. At the end of September 2016, its mission was ended when the spacecraft was sent on a collision course into the comet. During its time at comet 67P, it captured a vast amount of images.
The ESA made all those images freely available at their Rosetta website, and now an astro-photographer working with those images has found something interesting: a chunk of ice travelling through space with 67P.
Continue reading “An Astrophotographer Noticed a Chunk of Ice Orbiting Comet 67P in Rosetta’s Photos”
What, exactly, is the inside of a neutron star like?
A neutron star is what remains after a massive star goes supernova. It’s a tightly-packed, ultra-dense body made of—you guessed it—neutrons. Actually, that’s not absolutely true.
Continue reading “Neutron Star Suffers a “Glitch”, Gives Astronomers a Glimpse Into How They Work”
Even though the black hole at the center of the Milky Way is a monster, it’s still rather quiet. Called Sagittarius A*, it’s about 4.6 million times more massive than our Sun. Usually, it’s a brooding behemoth. But scientists observing Sgr. A* with the Keck Telescope just watched as its brightness bloomed to over 75 times normal for a few hours.
Continue reading “Milky Way’s Black Hole Just Flared, Growing 75 Times as Bright for a Few Hours”
When SpaceIL’s Beresheet lander crashed into the Moon, it was a bitter-sweet moment for Israel’s space exploration aspirations. The privately-built spacecraft was punching above its weight class by proceeding on its journey to the Moon. Unfortunately, it crashed, ending the dream.
But Beresheet carried some unusual passengers, as part of an unusual, yet visionary, sub-mission: tardigrades.
Continue reading “Hardy Tardigrades on Board Israel’s Beresheet Lander Probably Survived the Crash”
If contemplating the vast size of astronomical objects makes you feel rather puny and insignificant, then this new discovery will make you feel positively infinitesimal.
It’s almost impossible to imagine an object this large: a super massive black hole that’s 40 billion times more massive than our Sun. But there it is, sitting in the center of a super-giant elliptical galaxy called Holmberg 15A. Holmberg 15A is about 700 million light years away, in the center of the Abell 85 galaxy cluster.
Continue reading “A Monster Black Hole has been Found with 40 Billion Times the Mass of the Sun”
Picture two tissue box-sized spacecraft orbiting Earth.
Then picture them communicating, and using a water-powered thruster to approach each other. If you can do that, then you’re up to speed on one of the activities of NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology Program (SSTP.) It’s all part of NASA’s effort to develop small spacecraft to serve their space exploration, science, space operations, and aeronautics endeavors.
Continue reading “NASA Tests Water Powered Spacecraft in Orbit”
Pluto is getting some new names. In the past, prior to the New Horizons mission, there wasn’t much to name. But now that that spacecraft has flew past Pluto and observed it up close, there’s some features that need naming.
Now the IAU (International Astronomical Union) has approved a new set of names for 14 of the dwarf planet’s surface features.
Continue reading “A Bunch of New Names for Pluto’s Surface Features Were Just Approved”
Despite all we know about the formation and evolution of the Universe, the very early days are still kind of mysterious. With our knowledge of physics we can shed some light on the nature of the earliest stars, even though they’re almost certainly long gone.
Now a new discovery is confirming what scientists think they know about the early Universe, by shedding light on a star that’s still shining.
Continue reading “Traces of One of the Oldest Stars in the Universe Found Inside Another Star”
When astronomers discover a new exoplanet, one of the first considerations is if the planet is in the habitable zone, or outside of it. That label largely depends on whether or not the temperature of the planet allows liquid water. But of course it’s not that simple. A new study suggests that frozen, icy worlds with completely frozen oceans could actually have livable land areas that remain habitable.
The new study was published in the AGU’s Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. It focuses on how CO2 cycles through a planet and how it affects the planet’s temperature. The title is “Habitable Snowballs: Temperate Land Conditions, Liquid Water, and Implications for CO2 Weathering.”
Continue reading “Snowball Exoplanets Might Be Better for Life Than We Thought”